Hard disk drives are used in almost all computer system operations. In fact, most computing systems are not operational without some type of hard disk drive to store the most basic computing information such as the boot operation, the operating system, the applications, and the like. In general, the hard disk drive is a device which may or may not be removable, but without which the computing system will generally not operate.
A conventional hard drive unit includes a storage disk or hard disk that spins at a substantially constant rotational speed. An actuator arm or slider is utilized to reach out over the disk. The arm has a head-gimbal-assembly (HGA) composed of a suspension, flexure and a slider carrying the read/write components.
In operation, the hard disk is rotated at a set speed via a spindle motor assembly having a central drive hub. Additionally, there are tracks evenly spaced at known intervals across the disk. When a request for a read of a specific portion or track is received, the actuator and servo-system of the hard drive aligns the head, via the arm, over the specific track location and the head reads the information from the disk. In the same manner, when a request for a write of a specific portion or track is received, the hard disk aligns the head, via the arm, over the specific track location and the head writes the information to the disk.
In order to reduce damage to delicate components of the hard disk drive, extensive efforts are made to manufacture the hard disk drives in the cleanest environmental conditions possible. However, it is not uncommon for the hard disk drives to become contaminated with particles during the manufacturing process in spite of these efforts. Thus, particles can accumulate on the head stack assembly (HSA) and/or the head gimbal assembly (HGA) during normal operation of the disk drives due to well known Van der Waals and adhesion effects. However, these accumulated particles can be knocked loose during the shipping and/or installation of the hard disk drive. These particles may then contaminate the head/disk interface of the hard disk drive and cause irreparable damage.